Hard really...

It's very hard to know what you can trust and what you cannot when you are installing from an un-patrolled app store from your phone. Which is really the crux of the whole Apple walled garden vs. the Android open-everything debate.

And Chemist, if you want to insist on using Linux exclusively, I still have a working Motorola A780 Linux smartphone for sale... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_A780. Unless you have one, it is unlikely you are running Linux _exclusively_.

Linux exclusively

Ha Noi has the answer?

The civil government of Ha Noi, VietNam, has a problem with illegal advertisers painting advertisements, with telephone numbers, on buildings walls and on the sidewalks, etc.

Asking them to stop proved fruitless.

Then they got smart. All numbers found illegally on public areas are simply disconnected, rendering the adverts worthless. A total success in less than 9 months.

Why can't numbers used for fraudulent activities also be either blocked or disconnected, this should be particularly easy given that telephone switches (exchanges) are essentially computers that operate switches?

An alternative would be require all subscribers to these fee collecting lines be required to accept payment 60 days after a call was made and deposit a sizable, cash, security bond.

Think it through

"All numbers found illegally on public areas are simply disconnected, rendering the adverts worthless. A total success in less than 9 months."

Yeah, so if you want to put your competitors out of business, all you do is put up some fake ads with their number on them. That's why the remedy is naive. It's called being framed and I thought it would be obvious.

Bread & Butter

"Why can't numbers used for fraudulent activities also be either blocked or disconnected, this should be particularly easy given that telephone switches (exchanges) are essentially computers that operate switches?"

Because that's where my bread and butter comes from. I have kids to feed, think of the children!

Gloating

not at all ...

It's about choice. You can either choose to have your content fiercely locked down and monitored as in the Apple app store, or have an 'anything goes' approach. Users then can decide what is better suited to their taste.

I like the general anarchy on the net, since I am naive enough to believe that I know how to avoid major issues on my PC, and can clean up if (when!) something goes wrong. But I know nothing about the OS of my iPad, so I'd rather that stayed uninfected. So I'll take the app censorship route here - if that's ok with you.